Veni Fields

BY VENI FIELDS PUNGO — Every morning around 7 a.m., Floyd E. “Dunie” Bonney, Jr., slips a key into the lock of a red door in a white building at the corner of Princess Anne and Indian River roads and he… Continue Reading →

BY VENI FIELDS VIRGINIA BEACH — In December, David Trimmer, the director of Virginia Beach Department of Agriculture, held a breakfast meeting at Eddy’s Café in Red Mill with members of the committee that selects each year’s Excellence in Agriculture award.… Continue Reading →

BY VENI FIELDS BACK BAY — LZ-Grace Warriors Retreat founder Lynn Bukowski’s expression of panic high above the ground in a Facebook photo began, you might say, with a pesky weed in Donald Noha’s back yard. Both contributed to a new… Continue Reading →

Ed. note — This story originally ran in the June 10, 2016, print edition of The Independent News. BY VENI FIELDS PUNGO — Brad Keithly’s hands were trembling slightly as he walked up a set of metal stairs and leaned into the… Continue Reading →

BY VENI FIELDS SANDBRIDGE — It was a fun little miracle in Sandbridge. It came with a pair of 52-year-old tap shoes. Tina Ciccone had been searching for a while for just the right dance class to have a little fun… Continue Reading →

BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE PUNGO — Jane Bloodworth Rowe wrote a story in a recent paper about the Morris family, who earned the 2016 Excellence in Agriculture Award for generations of work. And coverage of the banquet this past month appeared in… Continue Reading →

BY VENI FIELDS KEMPSVILLE — Dr. Amelia Ross-Hammond’s phone started ringing early on Wednesday, Nov. 9, a day after newcomer Jessica Abbott was voted into the Kempsville District city council seat Ross-Hammond had occupied for the last four years. “People wanted… Continue Reading →

BY VENI FIELDS VIRGINIA BEACH — Between the lettuce and tomatoes she was stacking on a row of turkey on white sandwiches, Kaiya Putman noticed movement outside the plate glass window at the Jersey Mike’s Subs in Landstown. When she glanced… Continue Reading →

BY VENI FIELDS VIRGINIA BEACH — Lesson No. 1, after seeking help for an April 2008 diagnosis of anxiety: Not all therapists are created equal. More lessons piled up after that. Most of them were unpleasant. I had been physically… Continue Reading →

BY VENI FIELDS VIRGINIA BEACH — Thankfully, my brand new doctor had a sense of humor similar to mine. Still, I’m sure she didn’t expect a patient to all but laugh in her face when she handed out a diagnosis. But,… Continue Reading →